A Mother's Love
by magicslifer
Summary: She was the woman who made the bearer who he would be. Everyone knows what happened to Sora on the Island that night, but what about the woman who found her son gone and her family torn apart by the darkness. The story of a worried mother.
1. Maternal Bond

AN: I see very few things written about the unmentioned characters of Destiny Island and this always perplexed me because the way I see it, someone understand a person till you understand where they come from. I know the families of the main characters are a mystery but Sora's mother's does have a single line in the beginning of the first game…To keep my rambling to a minimum, this came to me when I was thinking about the attack on Destiny Island and what it meant for the rest of that Island. I'm only gonna be writing from one character's perspective right now, but who knows, if I get a response of some requests, I wouldn't mind trying some other viewpoints in other stories like Riku's family or Kairi's or Wakka Tidus and Selphie. I've also been thinking if people like this, to also try other this from this OC perspective, like the return home at the end of KH2 and stuff like that. Onwards.

Maternal Bond

She had assumed it was nothing when she called and he didn't respond. Sora had always been off doing one thing or another his whole life, never content to let the world around him pass him by. His friendship and rivalry with the silver haired Riku had only accentuated that fact. Both wanted to make something of themselves, to find their own glory beyond the peaceful life on their island home.

She thought nothing of it when her oldest child didn't run down to dinner in the whirlwind that was his style. Perhaps he had gone down to Riku or Kairi's place, perhaps he was working on his summer research paper that she had been yelling at him about just that morning for leaving it so late. Only a few more weeks of summer after all and he hadn't even decided what he wanted to write about. She adored her firstborn, but the inherent laidback nature he inherited from her husband, his father, often drove her nerves off the deep end and she often exclaimed Sora would be the death of her and that he would likely corrupt his little sister, Melody, with his inability to prioritize and take care of the important things like his homework first. Even Riku for all the daydreaming he did got the job done before he looked for the answers beyond the horizon and would get straight A's at that with only the rare B.

Kara hadn't worried too much and simply boxed up some lasagna for her son and put a note on the refrigerator for whenever her wayward son realized his stomach was empty and found his way downstairs:

Sora-

Lasagna's in the fridge.

You just need to heat it up for a minute in the microwave.

Try NOT to burn the house down, okay?

Love you,

Mom

With that, she replaced the leftovers of their dinner and traipsed out of the kitchen, following her husband and daughter into the living room where her husband, Michael, watched the results of the local blitzball game and she took a hairbrush to her 5 year old as the girl talked on and on about how Sora said he was gonna take her out to the play island this coming weekend and let her hang with his friends and him. The young girl was so excited to hang out with the big kids, she truly did hero-worship her older brother and Kara always smiled when she saw how Sora tried to be the proper big brother and teach her everything he had picked up in his 14 years. True Kara did feel reservations about letting her little angel off into the boat with Sora onto that island where if something happened she couldn't get to them immediately, but Sora had assured her that he could take care of Melody and she trusted him.

"…and I bet Sora'll even teach me to use a sword like he and Riku use and he even said he'd let me row the boat for a bit too and we could go swimming and playing in the waterfall and in the treehouses and…" If nothing else, the girl, like her brother, had gained the ability to keep talking endlessly without ever taking a single breath of air or pausing between words. However, she did file away what the little girl said about Sora letting her play with his toy sword, trust in her son or not, she would be damned if her five year old way in one of those ridiculous swordfights Sora and his friends competed in. Too much chance too accidentally get hit in the jaw with the blunt side of the wooden toy and that was a visit to the doctor for Melody that she would rather enjoy. She would definitely have to have a word with her son when she saw him about what was appropriate for this weekend's activities.

"…_and now to James Sanderson with weather, James."_

"_Thank you Ema, as you can easily see if you look out the window, the winds we have been experiencing most of this evening are not looking likely to break and with rain picking up and lighting coming in from the southern islands as well, we are advising all residents to shut your windows and stay inside for your own safety. Conditions look to worsen and these storm clouds have visibility at all time lows, once again, do not go out on the roads tonight. The mayor has issued a flash flood warning for tonight due to rising water levels on the shores. However, we'll keep you posted as the night goes on…Back to you Ema."_

"_Thanks James, in other news, the Destiny Island Sharks defeated the Seafoam Island Monarchs in the quarterfinals of the Destiny Islands Blitzball championship in a 3-2 nailbiter that came down to the wire…"_

A flash flood warning…that set off alarms in Kara's head as she put the brush down and ignored her daughter's soft whine before going upstairs and opening the door to her son's room in a hurry, finding it empty and the window open, rain pouring in onto the bed and floor and a note on the desk with her son's messy writing adorning it:

Mom and Dad,

Had to run down to the island, forgot something today

I won't be long unless the wind gets worse so don't worry.

See you soon!

Sora

"Mike! Get in here!" Her shrill voice could easily be heard over the shrill winds as the mother of two stared out at the play island from the window, a huge dark mass she could only assume was a cloud above it and vicious lighting surrounding it. Her son was out in this weather, possibly on the island or trying to row back in the rough current. What if he capsized!

Her husband's quick step was at the doorway to room within second, easily recognizing her panic. "What's wrong!" before he was handed the note he had entered to find his wife holding so tightly he was afraid she would tear it. "Oh dear god…You stay here! I'll go find him!"

"No! He's my son too! You stay with Melody and I'll find him…" she didn't even get the chance to finish before he pulled her into a tight hug, her tears falling "Take Melody over to Jack and Kelly's and we'll both go…" Within minutes they had convinced their next door neighbors to watch the daughter who was also incidentally Jack and Kelly's goddaughter, Jack and Mike having been lifelong friends since they were in diapers while Kara and Kelly had met in college as freshman roommates and the rest was history.

As the dirt road were too rough for cars, the two put on waterproof clothing and took to the streets, racing towards the shoreline as fast as they could. All the while though, Kelly couldn't get the look of that dark sphere out of her head and also the strange feeling that while they ran, they were being followed. Along the way, they saw Kairi's adoptive parents as well as Riku's parents also heading towards the island frantically and as one they realized that the three had to be together, whether intentionally or by coincidence and despite all her worry, this calmed Kara slightly. Kairi was an angel and Sora and Riku, despite their differences in personality and goals, were like brothers and would die before they laid a hand on one another. The three could handle each other and they'd be safer together if nothing else.

That was where everything went from calm chaos to hell unleashed.

The parents split up and went different ways on the trip to the shoreline in case the kids had gotten back and took one of the different routes to one of their homes. However, when Kara and Michael got there, none of the other parents were there and she thought she distinctly heard a scream off in the distance. Luckily, one boat, the one that belonged to the dock owner, was still there and Kara wasted no time in jumping into the rowboat and motioned to her husband to get in impatiently until she saw the scared look on his face from his position on the dock. Surrounding him on the wood were numerous dark creatures about the size of a small dog or rabbit. This thing however, was pitch black with glowing eerie eyes that seemed to chill her to the bone. With a soft gulp, Michael turned to look at her and his eyes said the endless feelings that words couldn't convey as well as the wish to find their son and keep him safe.

Before she could cry out to him to get in the boat, he turned and shoved her away from the dock before rushing the creatures, trying to attack them, only to have them seemingly melt into the ground before five others swarmed and attacked him, ripping at his chest and within seconds, the proud, strong and loving father let loose a loud scream as the creatures continued to rip at his body before all went silent.

After a moment, Kara regained the feeling in her arms and shakily kept rowing, unsure of what to do now. Her son was missing and her husband dead and the weather wasn't making things easier, although now that she was nearing the play island she could see the black sphere was anything but a cloud, instead it seemed to be a giant ball of pure darkness and evil and hate almost radiated off it to the point of being physical. Finally though, she reached the dock and jumped out, seeing the same creatures appear and begin moving towards her, but she simply ran, trying to locate her beloved son. After a moment though, a blinding light shone and shocked her to the core. On the adjoining island she knew her son often sparred with Riku on with those blasted swords and she could see her son standing on it, holding what seemed to be a long weapon that seemed to glow with radiance. However, in that moment of stopping to stare at the brightness, she had allowed her pursuers to catch her and as she tried to yell out to her son to run from her place on the beach, she found she could only scream as her chest was ripped open by the creatures who clawed at where her heart should be and as they did, everything seemed to fade and lose purpose.

Nothing was important, she was surrounded by darkness everywhere and even as she tried to hold onto mental images of her family, they slowly faded away from her grip. She couldn't hear her beloved spouse's strong voice and arms around her or her daughter's joyful shouts or her son's chuckle and sheepish smile when he was caught goofing off. It was so dark, but so peaceful, so easy just to give into this feeling and embrace it. Yet with one last surge of strength she forced her eyes open and saw her son slash through one of these creatures with the weapon in his hands and despite her blurry sight she could tell it resembled a key. For that last moment, she could feel, but she didn't feel anger or peace or remorse…no, with a last sight of her son battling through these creatures with a brilliant blade, she felt…hope…before blackness swarmed her sigh atnd consumed her vision. Yet just as her heart was reborn into a shadow, she felt a blade slice through her being and her heart was freed to return to the End of the World, the endless abyss of darkness where her heart would wait along with her husband and daughter and cheer for her son's victory when he arrived. As the worlds were restored, she was the first to feel the overwhelming pride before the barriers emerged around the worlds again…She would see her son again…One day.


	2. Found and Lost

AN: This chapter kind of left me at a bit of a standstill to be honest as Chain of Memories never really goes into the span of time during the game itself as well as between the end of KH and CoM. We know Kingdom Hearts spans a full year and that Sora slept for about 6 months, plus what I presume is another 6 months to a year for KH2…but there's an unstated time period they spent in Castle Oblivion as well as how long before finding the Castle. Since it shows no long periods of time and Nomura never implied such a thing, I'm going to presume it was rather short simply because Re:Chain appeared to be one constant stream of motion without a pause for air in it. Furthermore…I really would like someone to leave a review to be blunt…Call me selfish; call me desperate, call me self-serving, but it's always nice to hear an opinion. I can't figure out what you all would like to see me write about if you don't give me a hint. The chapter after this is already set in stone pretty much, but I'd love to hear your ideas and see if I could work them into something and of course, I'd be happy to give anyone with good ideas credit for their work…To make a long story short…even if it's just say if you love or hate it…please just leave a review and let me know you're reading it.

Found and Lost

She could feel…for the first time in however long it had been, Kara could truly feel again. Not just the faux cheap feelings she got from her place in the Realm of Darkness as simply a heart united with all those that had been torn from their physical bodies and returned to Kingdom Hearts. No, this was unique, this was real again, and this was true. Even as she realized it, she opened her eyes and saw the sandy shores of her home underneath her hands. The sky was pitch black, and as she looked out, she could see trees erupting from around her, the play island that she had barely made it to in an effort to find her lost son being reborn in front of her very eyes. The tree house exploded from the earth around her in a burst of light and as she looked up at it, she caught side of something off in the distance. What looked like a shining eclipse off in the distance of the night sky and receding quickly, from it had exploded stars that were finding their place in the skies above once more, creating the beautiful night skies she often enjoyed sharing with her husband, then her son and now her daughter as well.

Her family! Where were they! If she was here, then they had to be as well. Life in that…could it even be called a place, was different that anything she could ever begin to describe. It was likely existing and not existing all at the same time. She was conscious of things happening around her, but also events seemed to be forgotten as soon as they happened and she couldn't hold onto her sense of self. No memories remained with her, no matter how much she tried, all she could remember was the moment, and now it was all starting to come back to her:

A man proclaiming her love to her, as he slid a ring onto her finger and promised never to leave her.

A young boy saying at only five years of age that he was going to do something great and people would know his name forever.

A young girl playing dress up in her mother's closet and makeup drawers and being unable to scold the girl for wasting the makeup and ruining clothes, the smile on her face betraying her feelings.

Had they returned from wherever they may have gone to as well? Her husband her been taken before she had, and her daughter was defenseless. Her only unknown was the young boy that had been her last sight before she fell, a boy with eyes as alive as the forests and yet deeper than the oceans. While she had been taken by those terrible things, he had been fighting them off with an intensity she had never seen from him, the look in his eyes that something terrible was happening. For that moment, she truly knew he was right at five…with the strength she saw in her teenager that night, everyone would one day know his name.

Rising to her feet as last, she tried to regain full feeling in her legs and finally managed to take a few steps along the shore line of the small play island and gain some steadiness. Once she got a good look though, she found that she wasn't alone on the small island. There about 50 feet away, looking at her with a small and sad smile that seemed so much older than fourteen was the girl she knew her son to have a crush on, Kairi, the adoptive daughter of the Mayor of Destiny Islands.

"Hello Ma'am…Are you alright?" The question was hesitant and while Kara knew Kairi was certainly less outspoken and bold than Sora and Riku, she had never seen her be so reserved around her. After all, she had known the girl for several years and even babysat her on occasion when she was younger.

Still…there was one thing that hadn't changed, and Kara wished to death that it had. "Kairi dear, haven't I told you enough times by now. Just call me Kara. Ma'am makes me feel way too old."

The comment got a true chuckle from the girl and Kara saw she relaxed a bit and then she plowed onward "Kairi…Where is Sora…I know he was here before. Have you seen him...?"

"M…Maybe we should get back to your home before I explain everything to you. Sora's dad is probably worried about you and Melody probably misses you. It's still late after all."

That was true, for one strange reason, it seemed as if no time had passed, everything in Destiny Islands was restored exactly the way it had been prior to the breakup of the worlds. Therefore, Kairi humored her son's friend and merely pointed to the rowboats and the two each took a boat, heading for the main shoreline.

On the docks, they found Michael, still unconscious although after a few minutes she finally managed to stir her husband. However as soon as he got his bearings, he was just as worried as she was about their children and tried his best to grill Kairi as he none too subtly informed her that she would be coming to their home and answering every last question he had about where his son was and Kairi didn't even bother to protest. Michael may have been an easygoing man who enjoyed relaxing and that was likely where Sora inherited it from, but there was one thing he took seriously and that was his role as a father to his children. Nothing else was more important to him in the world and he would have gone to hell and back to see either his son or daughter smile. The idea that he might have failed to protect his children was his greatest fear, that he would be helpless in their eyes, unable to be the strong father that could make everything better.

Still, the threesome finally arrived at Michael's old friend, Jack's, home and picked up the still sleeping Melody in his arms, keeping a tight grip on her as if she were going to evaporate from within them if he let go. However, at least in Kara's opinion, that was somewhat understandable given the last thing he seemed to remember was being attacked by those dark creatures and even as she walked, her memories of the last year seemed to be slipping away, the world barriers silently separating them from her and restoring her to what she had been before the heartless attacked.

Once the two parents had tucked the daughter in and checked their son's bedroom, finding it still messy, although neither felt quite as irritable about that detail anymore, they took a seat on the couch and Kara guided Kairi to an armchair and gave her a glass of water and so for the next two hours she continued on, telling the two everything she knew of Sora's adventures from what she had been awake for and the stories he had detailed to her once she had woken up. At last however, she leaned back and just took a deep breath before she finished "That's as much as I knock…He just said he'd come back one day…"

**KHKHKHKHKHKHKHKHKHKHKHKHKHKHKHKHKHKHKHKHKHKHKHKHKH**

That had been several days ago and Kara felt empty even more by the day. The entire chemistry of their small family seemed off without the 14 year old, or she supposed now 15 year old, ball of energy running in the door saying he'd be out with Riku and Kairi at the play island or playing blitzball with Wakka or something of the sort. Kara, who loved to cook to relax, was now messing up the simplest of recipes and was very withdrawn, finding little to no joy from anything. Michael was uptight and snappish towards everyone despite the effort to put on a happy face for his daughter so as not to upset her and seemingly fail his only other child. Even little Melody, despite simply being told her brother was on vacation for a while and would be home soon had noticed something was wrong and merely played quietly in her room.

She knew she shouldn't be so upset really. It could be far worse; he could have been gone forever. Instead her son was a hero, his name renowned throughout the worlds; she still had trouble working her mind around the concept of multiple worlds. He was a figure of hope and stability. Still, she couldn't help but wonder, why her son, her son just needed to be Sora. He didn't need some special blade for her to love him. She would have given anything to have him back right then. Most of all though, what she wished she could change the most, was that the last thing she ever said to him was yell that he needed to learn responsibility. The last thing she said was he needed to grow up because he hadn't started some stupid paper, and now he was trapped in a war the likes of which she couldn't even begin to imagine. Her baby, her child. She knew letting go was part of being a parent and it would have to happen and she accepted that, but she also didn't think whoever said that concept even had their oldest son fighting a war at only 14 across the cosmos!

Even as she thought about her son however, she felt dizzy all of a sudden and had to grasp the table for support. It was as if something had been ripped from her, and it left her shaken to the very core, her entire body vibrating enough to shake the table she was leaning against. She just couldn't put her finger on what exactly was wrong. All the same though, she'd figure it out later, maybe it was just one of those random moments. Besides, she couldn't be sitting her shaking, she had dinner to make for her….child? No…she had another child didn't she? Yes, a boy who would be 15 she thought. With spiky hair…was it brown…maybe blonde…why couldn't she remember!

Even as she struggled to think she tried to search her mind for his name and came up with nothing. As she did this, a wave passed over the islands and through the worlds. Pictures of a family of four became two adults with their young daughter. A husband in mourning suddenly felt lighter and yet also empty. A girl sad about not getting to go to the play island with her brother that weekend suddenly thought of going to do jump rope in the drive way. A bedroom filled with memories was suddenly emptied as possessions melted away into nothingness.

A girl on the play island suddenly clutched her heart in pain as her closest friend was torn from her.

A blonde boy in a black cloak gasped as he felt pain for the first time and…was this sadness? As he summoned the Keyblade, he fought not the white trim of the Oathkeeper or the black of Oblivion but the standard Kingdom Key for without the bonds that forged Oathkeeper and Oblivion still strong in Sora's heart, he couldn't call them. Kairi didn't remember the promise so Oathkeeper had nothing to draw on, no sacred bond or trust.

A girl stood near a pod watching a boy in it sleeping and apologizing for the pain she knew this would cause him. One didn't search and unchain memories without learning to understand the person as well as anyone ever would.

A group of friends stood in Hollow Bastion as they began planning to rebuild their home but suddenly held a moment of silence without a word, understanding the feeling of true loss but not yet understanding what they had lost.

A man among the apes, a girl having tea with a rabbit, a mighty fighter and a Satyr, a street rat and his trusted partner, a lion roaring proudly, a skeleton planning for Halloween, a boy once made of wood and his father, a mermaid and the king of the seas, a dragon looking for glory among ancestors, an elephant that dreamed of flying, a boy that vowed to stay young forever and a pixie, a genie embracing freedom, a wizard and fairy godmother; all felt the pain of loss as the boy who united them all was torn from their hearts so violently by the magic of the nobody, Namine

Yet still, as Namine watched, Sora screamed in his sleep, feeling the bonds in his heart straining at memories were torn away. The bonds that leant power to the Keyblade, damaged and pained.

As her forgotten son screamed in pain as his loved ones around the world's and the family and friends he sacrificed everything for forgot him, a mother felt his agony despite not understanding it. Despite that, her heart screamed out to soothe her son across the worlds that she would always be there and watch over him, that she would never forget him. That she would be waiting for him when he finally managed to make his way home to his family.


End file.
